Neuro Note #4 - Transfatty Lives

After learning more about ALS in class, I found this disease more and more interesting. It fascinates me so much because while this disease destroys all control of your muscles, your brain is perfectly intact, meaning you are perfectly aware of everything going on. I could not help but imagine what this must be like. In order to gain further insight, I decided to watch the documentary Transfatty Lives.

Transfatty Lives is a documentary by Patrick O'Brien, a 30 year old male who was just recently diagnosed with ALS. He shares his journey with us and give us a true look at how ALS affected his life. In this film, you are able to see him go to doctor visits, where they confirmed the diagnosis and follow him along the way to see how this disease progressed. Throughout this journey, Patrick remains his humorous self, and shares his story in a positive way to help raise awareness to this disease. At times, it seemed like Patrick was in better spirits than his family. He cracked jokes nonstop from before the diagnosis til the very end. His attitude and outlook on life was truly inspiring.

What I learned from this film was so much more than just how this disease progresses. From this film, I got to see the true story of how this disease not only affected Patrick, but also how much this truly affects the family members. It allowed me to see a live look into how living with ALS is at each hour of the day, for the years to go. One thing that stuck out to me was how much Patrick had a desire to live and keep fighting. He didn't care if he only had eye movement left or had to be on a ventilator 24/7, he wanted to keep on living. This amazed me because having the full cognitive function, I can see how this condition can make some wish this fight was just over. I cannot imagine how much this disease affects them emotionally. Patrick's positive attitude throughout his journey reminded me of how rewarding of a career occupational therapy is. It is people like Patrick that really remind you about what is important in life and how not to take things for granted. All he wanted was to spend as much time with his son that he could, regardless if he had to communicate by computer. I highly recommend this documentary to anyone just to get a sense of how this disease runs its path. Patrick sheds light to living with a fatal disease and there is definitely something for everyone to learn from this film.

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